Motivation in Physical Education
Motivation in Physical Education
Problem Statement The health benefits of physical activity are well documented to date. Researchers also are fairly confident as to how often, how much, how long, and what types of activity one must engage in for health enhancing results. Therefore, the reasons to become or to stay physically active are inescapable, and the opportunities to practice health enhancing behaviors are innumerable. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that adolescents do 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. However, recognizing the importance of physical activity, Healthy People 2010 recently reported that only 65% of adolescents in grades 9-12 engage in the recommended levels of physical activity (Parish & Treasure, 2003) each week. This undesirable percentage has implications for the physical education (PE) classroom as well. Although adolescents are more active than adults, participation in physical activity declines with age throughout adolescence (Pate, Long, & Heath, 1994). Transitioning from elementary to secondary school and from middle to high school can be difficult developmentally for children. These transitional periods are likely to impact on their experiences, motivation and achievement in all school subjects, including PE (Warburton & Spray, 2008). Many factors may play a role in inadequate levels of physical activity, but a majority of research seems to focus on the area of intrinsic motivation. Much academic training, as well as pre-service teacher training, focuses on history, skill acquisition, measurement and evaluation, and philosophy of sport, while neglecting the role motivation plays in student learning and participation. At the lower grades (6-8) of the secondary level, many PE teachers have merely minored in physical education as a discipline, or are not even PE certified, and may be ill-equipped to deal with this problem. The methods PE teachers use to
Problem Statement The health benefits of physical activity are well documented to date. Researchers also are fairly confident as to how often, how much, how long, and what types of activity one must engage in for health enhancing results. Therefore, the reasons to become or to stay physically active are inescapable, and the opportunities to practice health enhancing behaviors are innumerable. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that adolescents do 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. However, recognizing the importance of physical activity, Healthy People 2010 recently reported that only 65% of adolescents in grades 9-12 engage in the recommended levels of physical activity (Parish & Treasure, 2003) each week. This undesirable percentage has implications for the physical education (PE) classroom as well. Although adolescents are more active than adults, participation in physical activity declines with age throughout adolescence (Pate, Long, & Heath, 1994). Transitioning from elementary to secondary school and from middle to high school can be difficult developmentally for children. These transitional periods are likely to impact on their experiences, motivation and achievement in all school subjects, including PE (Warburton & Spray, 2008). Many factors may play a role in inadequate levels of physical activity, but a majority of research seems to focus on the area of intrinsic motivation. Much academic training, as well as pre-service teacher training, focuses on history, skill acquisition, measurement and evaluation, and philosophy of sport, while neglecting the role motivation plays in student learning and participation. At the lower grades (6-8) of the secondary level, many PE teachers have merely minored in physical education as a discipline, or are not even PE certified, and may be ill-equipped to deal with this problem. The methods PE teachers use to
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